Protesters guard the Ukrainian Government building in downtown Kiev on Tuesday. / Maxim Shipenkov, epa

by Charles McPhedran and Jennifer Collins, Special for USA TODAY

by Charles McPhedran and Jennifer Collins, Special for USA TODAY

KIEV, Ukraine â?? A former presidential aide has been shot and wounded as Ukraine on Tuesday postponed the forming of a government that must happen if it is to get millions in desperately needed financial aid from the EU.

Andriy Klyuyev, a despised top aide to President Viktor Yanukovych, was hospitalized on Monday, said his spokesman, Artem Petrenko. It was not known if the attack was in retribution for his actions during a protest movement in which government forces gunned down more than 80 people.

The Ukrainian parliament Tuesday delayed forming a new government, setting off concerns among protesters over the slow pace of replacing Yanukovych's administration, days after he was thrown out of office and on the run in the south of the country, possibly in Crimea.

Parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov, who was named Ukraine's interim leader, said he hoped to have a government in place by Thursday.

Turchinov says the Treasury was left empty by the previous government, which many protesters accused of robbing the citizenry. He estimated the country will need $35 billion in the next two years to pay salaries and pensions and debt.

Ukraine failed to keep terms of International Monetary Fund bailouts from 2008 and 2010, including that the state-owned gas company Naftogaz stop selling gas to Ukrainians for as little as one-fifth of its cost. Much of the gas was importing from Russia, and Ukraine has yet to pay for it all.

But the EU says it is ready to help, as is Canada and the United States, with short-term financing until longer-term funds can be secured.

Yanukovych had accepted a bailout in January from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who pulled back the aid offer when the protest movement gained momentum and Yanukovych caved to some of its demands.

A senior Russian lawmaker on a trip to Ukraine's Crimea says that Russia will protect Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine if their lives are in danger. Leonid Slutsky, who heads a committee in charge of relations with other ex-Soviet republics in the Russian parliament, did not say what action Russia might take.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday it would not intervene militarily in the crisis in neighboring Ukraine.

"We confirmed our principled position of non-intervention in Ukraine's internal affairs and expect that everyone follows similar logic," Lavrov said.

But he added, "We agree that ... it is dangerous and counterproductive to force Ukraine into a choice - either you are with us or against us."

Despite the upheaval, some said they were optimistic for the future now that new elections will be held May 25.

"I, like almost everyone else in Ukraine, think we have a happy future ahead of us, with better education and a better government," said waiter Alina Vehetsa, who works in a Mexican restaurant in downtown Kiev.

"Before (during the revolution) I was afraid to go to work because it was so dangerous," she said.

Candidates have until April 4 to register for the election, according to an election calendar posted by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission online early Tuesday. A number of candidates are currently being discussed, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a top political rival to Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko was released from prison on Saturday after serving a term for what her supporters said were trumped up political charges.

Ukraine is currently being governed by an interim government led by parliamentary speaker Turchinov. Meanwhile, the country's former president remained missing a day after Ukrainian authorities issued an arrest warrant against him for the killing of 82 people, mainly demonstrators, in clashes between police and protesters.

Arrest warrants have been issued for other former government officials who have not yet been named, reported the Kiev Post.

A number of former top government officials have gone into hiding, including former interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and the former presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev, who is believed to have fled with Yanukovych and a small security detail, reports the paper.